Ever since I was in pigtails, I have wanted to go to New York. More specifically, it was a lifelong goal of mine to be in Times Square when the ball dropped. I don’t know where this idea came from, though I suspect it was planted by a family friend with an interesting accent who was originally from one of the boroughs….then underscored every New Year’s as I watched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

On the eve of the dawn of 2010, it happened. And though it was cold and rainy, and I was way back on 58th Street or so, I was there and it was everything I’d ever dreamed.

What lifelong travel dreams have you harbored? Which have you achieved? How has it formed you?